Bible Strands
Genesis 2:9
Out of the ground the LORD God gave growth to every tree that is pleasing to the eye and good for food. And in the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — No one is speaking; this is narrative. God acts, growing trees from the ground in the garden he has just planted and placed the man into.
The words — נֶחְמָד (nechmad) means "desirable" or "pleasing to the eye," marking aesthetic appeal as a category distinct from utility. The verb יְצָמַח (yatzmach) is "to sprout," emphasizing growth from the ground rather than placement.
The thread — The tree of life reappears in Revelation 2:7 and 22:14 as a reward for overcoming; the knowledge of good and evil resurfaces in Genesis 3:22 as the consequence of eating.
Why it lands — The garden is not a neutral space; it is a test already in motion, and the reader is positioned to see that "desirable" and "good for food" are not the same criterion.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Cross-references
- Genesis 3:22 Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil. And now, lest he reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever...”
- Revelation 2:7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will grant the right to eat from the tree of life in the Paradise of God.
- Revelation 22:14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by its gates.
- Revelation 22:2 down the middle of the main street of the city. On either side of the river stood a tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit and yielding a fresh crop for each month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
- Proverbs 11:30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.
- Ezekiel 47:12 Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of all kinds will grow. Their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. Each month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will be used for food and their leaves for healing.”
- Proverbs 3:18 She is a tree of life to those who embrace her, and those who lay hold of her are blessed.
- Genesis 2:17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”
- Genesis 3:3 but about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You must not eat of it or touch it, or you will die.’”
- Ezekiel 31:8 The cedars in the garden of God could not rival it; the cypresses could not compare with its branches, nor the plane trees match its boughs. No tree in the garden of God could compare with its beauty.